I am starting a new segment here on Miss Chardy… all about cooking for a crowd. It will be a regular Friday post. I would love your input. If you have any suggestions, hints and tips, please share them in the comments section here or over on Facebook. I would love to hear from you if you are a station cook, if you employ a station cook or if you are hoping to be a cook. No question is too silly. (Stick with me until the end and you will find the recipe of the week at the bottom of this post).
Ok, lets do this…
Most large cattle stations employ a Station Cook. Have you ever wanted an outback adventure but wondered if you could actually do it? Stick with me and I will have you sorted out in no time. We will decide if you are up to it or not.
Firstly, do you love to cook? Can you actually cook? Could you live remotely? Could you live without mobile phone service? If you answered no to all of these questions then I suggest you find a new calling in life because, quite frankly, cooking is probably not for you. You need a passion for food and serving others. If you don’t have this passion it is going to be a long, lonely, thankless haul for you.
Right, now that we have that sorted we can move on. So you love cooking? Good. That is really all you need, we can work on everything else. Actually you have to love people as well, I don’t think we can work on that… you either do or you don’t. You are going to have to be happy and kind not to mention welcoming, if you can’t do that, then again, perhaps this isn’t the career path for you.
We are not looking for world renowned chefs, we don’t want fancy five star meals served. What we are looking for is good hearty, old fashioned meals.
You know what I mean… steak & veg, rissoles (rissoles Darl, everyone knows rissoles), roast dinners, spag bol, crumbed steak (always a winner), a good casserole, corned beef and white sauce.
Crumbed Steak: A favourite
You will need to cook breakfast (with a smile on your face and let me tell you this isn’t always easy at 4:30am). There will need to be a selection of smokos baked ready to be packed if they are working away from the station, such as cakes, slice and biscuits.
If they are in at the station you will be expected to cook morning smoko and lunch.
Every station is different but you will also be expected to trot out dessert. That may be required every night or perhaps only a few nights a week, it really does depend on your crew, they may or may not be big dessert eaters.
The kitchen is the hub of most stations, if all is well in the kitchen then you will usually find a happy camp. So that means if you are going to be a cook you need to be happy and welcoming (did I mention that already??!!!). If you are having a bad day, which we all do, then fake it till you make it my friend. Put a smile on your dial, suck it up and get on with things.
If you love what you are doing then we will taste that love in your food. If you don’t, the only flavour that will come through is hate. Hate doesn’t taste very nice at all.
The role of Station Cook is probably 50% cooking and 50% cleaning. Cleaning is a MAJOR component of this position. The kitchen should be kept spotless at all times. This includes the cold rooms, fridges, freezers, shelves, cupboards, ovens, sinks, bain marie (if you are lucky enough to have one), floors, tables, pots, pans and appliances. It can be hard work, but it has to be done…
Everything must be cleaned on a regular basis. Nobody wants to eat in a dirty kitchen. Oh and the washing up is next level… you will feel like you spend most of your time at that sink some days. I suggest washing up each thing as you go, no one wants to face a huge pile of dirty dishes in one go.
If you don’t like cleaning, again, this position is not for you. Cleaning and cooking is what you will be doing, day in, day out.
Now lets talk hours and big days. You will be expected to work… hard! So if you are afraid of work then hopefully you will have run a mile by now. The days will be long. Breakfast may be at 6am, but then again if they are working away from the station you may be expected to serve a 4:30am breakfast, which means you might need to be up and at it by 3:30-4am. Because the days are long you need to be organised so you are able to have a decent break in the middle of the day otherwise you will be run ragged by the time you turn the lights off which may not be until 8pm.
So there you have it my friends. What do you think? Are you cut out for station cooking? Think you might like to give it a go? Lets just make sure. Here is the check list:
- You love love love cooking
- You love love love cleaning
- You are a happy person who gets along with others
- You cook with love
- Your not afraid of hard work
- You can get out of bed at 4am
- You could live at bum truck nowhere and possibly without mobile service
- Young people don’t annoy you… there will be 18 year olds and yes, there may be swearing, but hopefully not in the kitchen.
There are so many different ways you can get a job and I am just going to link to a few that I can think of from the top of my head if you think this might be your calling in life…
Facebook: Rural & Remote Cooks
The North Australian Pastoral Company
MDH Pty Ltd
Australian Agricultural Company
Paraway Pastoral Company
Heytesbury Pastoral Company
Consolidated Pastoral Company
Stanbroke Pastoral Company
Gumtree
Please help… I would love your input, please leave your suggestions in the comments section below or over on Facebook.
What do you look for in a station cook? What is expected of your cook? Do you agree that the position is half and half cooking/cleaning? How many people does your cook feed? What are their hours? What information have I missed in this post?
Perhaps you are the Station Cook. What have I forgotten to tell the good people about this position.
I would love to hear your suggestions. Thanks in advance!
Recipe of the Week
[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:5]
Love it Miss Chardy! Direct enough to get the point across, but not too harsh as I have the habit of doing to prospective cooks. All of the above – so true! Thanks for putting it on the table, so to speak.
Ha ha ha, no worries.
Hi Chardy,
Have you heard of Ree Drummond, the Pioneer Woman? She is my go to for hearty down home on the ranch, farm or station food!
http://thepioneerwoman.com/
She has all manner of recipes for feeding hungry cowboys (they have a ranch in Oklahoma).
She has 3 beautiful cookbooks out which have beautiful, luscious recipes. Butter is her friend!
Have you ever made breakfast burritos? Basically scrambled eggs and bacon and cheese wrapped in a tortilla wrap, rolled up in alfoil to keep heared. These would make a great breakfast for on the run cow hands…
Check her out, she’s also on FoodNetwork and http://tastykitchen.com …
Cheers – Joolz xx
Hello there Joolz, how are you? Yes, I do follow Ree on Facebook. That breakfast burrito sounds fantastic, great idea!! xx
Love this! It’s such a fascinating insight into outback life. Thanks for the recipe too – I’m going to give it a go x
That Beef Strog recipe is so yummy and super easy, hope you like it. xx
Love it, always wanted to head out and try station life, however security of my full time job always holds me back. Sometimes just gotta be brave!
Sometimes you just have to step out of your comfort zone… the rewards will be amazing and the experience and people you meet will provide memories that last a lifetime.
Sounds like loads of good old fashioned hard work which in itself can be rewarding, thanks for sharing one of the most important jobs on a station.
Ha ha ha, yep, definitely involves good old fashioned hard work. 🙂
I used to be a station cook when I was 19, don’t know how I did it, strog and crumbed steak, rib bones, corned beef……..back before recipes were on the Internet. ( I’m only 40 too not like an old timer!) I had a few old CWA and SOTA recipe books as my trusty go to. Can’t even cook for my family of 4 now Chards! Amazing what you can do when you are young! I walked into my sisters cool room on their station over Christmas and that smell of a killer combined with crates of apples came back to me with great fondness! X
Oh Emma, that would have been such a good experience… I definitely could not cook when I was 19, didn’t really learn to cook properly until I came up to the NT as a Govie and my boss (Mrs Rumbo) taught me nearly everything I know… esp how to make gravy for a crowd… when they didn’t have a cook she would be it and I would help her and learn along the way. I love the SOTA cook books. Yep, that cold room smell…. love it. Hey – where do you live???
Hahahaha Chards, remember stamping that sweet little well-shod foot and telling me in no uncertain terms ‘I DON’T NEED TO KNOW HOW TO COOK!!!’ stomp stomp!
Ha ha ha ha, are you sure that wasn’t one of your daughters, ha ha ha ha – too funny. I remember stomping that well shod food when the gravy was lumpy, or what about that cake I baked for Mr Chardy and forgot to put the eggs in… not happy Jan. Such fond memories.
Would retired chef couple be considered, used to hard work and remote location? We enjoy to garden as well as cooking and cleaning.
If you are happy go lucky, get along well with people from all walks of life and happy to good good old fashioned basic meals (remember often there aren’t fancy ingredients on these remote stations) then you should definitely give it a go… see the links to the various companies that I mentioned. Or just search Gumtree. Good luck.
Husband and I have been traveling and working for the last four years now and trying our hand at different jobs. It’s been great!
I did an 8 week stint cooking on a cattle station between Derby and Fitzroy Crossing late last year. The 4am starts were a bit of a killer but as I used to tell our kids ‘you can do anything for a short period of time’ so I sucked it up and got on with it!
So many dishes to be washed 😳😜 but I have a Thermomix and by hell, it came in handy 👍
Not able to cook meals in it but very handy for the prep work and mixing up cakes, biscuits, etc. PLUS it cooks and stirs porridge and lets you know when it’s done so I could concentrate on all the cooked stuff for breakfast 😂
It was a fantastic experience and I’d probably do it again, but only as a fill-in cook as I’m not sure I’d want to commit to months and months of the early starts!
Good on you Anne! Itinerant cooks are often needed! Thanks for you message and thank god for that Thermomix!!! 🙂
I think maybe a non drinker could be good too! Had a few bad experiences over our station years….one in particular where we could never work out why the “cook” was always asleep or “odd”. Many years after when a cyclone ripped the roof/ceiling out of the kitchen, there was literally hundreds of empty beer cans that had been “hidden” up there from the “non-drinker”!!
Ha ha ha, I thought you were going to say there were millions of empty vanilla essence bottles, ha ha ha.
40Years of cooking on stations in the NT and Queensland and you could not drag me back there with a front end loader. Cut up that many killers I was starting to moo instead of talking and I almost looked like a fruitcake I cooked that many. There were days when all I wanted to do was run a mile and then you would serve up dinner that night to a hungry crew and the compliments would come thick and fast and you would think, “Well it’s not too bad out here and you would get up early the next morning and start all over again.” Happy Cooking to all who are going to tackle it for this year.
Ha ha ha ha… laughing out loud Sharon, too funny. I feel like a fruitcake most days and I don’t even cook them. Thanks for the funny message. If I had to choose between teaching my kids or cooking I would definitely choose cooking – so nice and peaceful. Happy New Year to you!!!
Did them both and I can honestly say after teaching Kelly for 6years I would rather cook too!!!!!!
Ha ha ha ha, she would be enough to break anyone wouldn’t she… h aha ha ha ha ha – just kidding, I would actually think she would be an angel!!!
Miss Chardy, You have absolutely nailed it. Put this article in all the major newspapers
I’m sharing this post far and wide
Oh Robbsie…. from the Queen of the Outback this means a lot!!!! Thank you so much!!!! Now suggestions for future posts are of course welcome!!! xxx
Great post – love to read about how many people you have to cook for, what the all time favourites are and what some of the disasters have been too!
Hi Aine, thanks, glad you enjoyed it. 🙂
Just found you. Enjoyed your article. I think you nailed it. I’m 52 from a corporate background and just completed my first season as station cook in the Gulf Country FNQ. Loved it! Loved the people. It was certainly hard work but got easier with planning and experience. Along with my builder husband we are going to do it again this season.
Hi Mel, sorry for the slow reply, my computer was broken for a while there… and I suppose I was on holidays too, ha ha ha. Wow, sounds like you are on quite the adventure and what a couple – cook/builder…. doesn’t get much better than that. Hope you are enjoying it. Are you going back to the same station this year???
G’day Miss Chardy,
What a timely find for me – your blog & site… I’m 53 & about to become a Station Cook for the 1st time ever! Offered job on Inverway/Riveren Station Western Side of NT… 4,444kms for me to get there from Berrima NSW & starting next Monday 19th.
Both my Mother & Grandmother were Station Cooks in NSW/QLD many many years ago (Firewood days etc) so maybe it runs in the blood lol… need all the help I can get – but I think I have the ability, certainly have the passion & have worked hard all my life & put myself thru 6mths out in the back of a Cafe Kitchen to improve skills…
Your site gives me confidence for me to have a go & to see your fact sheets/info from real experience helps a lot… I love Outback Travel, but I am still shaking my head at my decision to just do it but know I will absolutely love it for 6mths or so.. quite a unique property also!
Look forward to keeping in touch Miss Chardy & downloading & using your recipes thankyou – this will be so so helpful & also your helpful hints on how to prep for breaky, clean the kitchen etc etc etc… all so good & you really seem like a fun person who loves a laugh haha…
So Grateful Young Lady
Cheers
Paul Hendriks
http://www.thejourneyman.com.au
Hi Paul, that is wonderful – Riveren, that is a hike. I know Narelle. I hope my Cooking With Chards helps you. I have been very slack lately but going to try and start doing a Cooking with Chards post each week and hope to put a recipe up each week too. Narelle will have you sorted in no time though. Safe travels.
THANKYOU SO MUCH. My grand-daughter is headed to the outback as a cook and i found this … so happy. i bought Gulf Women…Bronwyn Blake………..excellent read. Also Bush Doctors (Christmas present) by Annabelle Brayley…………another must read. thankyou
Oh fantastic, I am so pleased I could be of assistance!!! Good luck to your grand-daughter I hope she loves it. I haven’t read either of those books but would love to so thanks for the recommendation.
I am a young 62 and work as a supervisor in a well known web dispatch company. I have always loved cooking and have cooked in cafes both here and in the United States. I have also worked creating food for sale in a supermarket from ingredients that needed to be used due to imminent sell by date. I have done all the college for chef but never worked as a chef. I have been outback and worked cooking in a remote aboriginal community teaching the youth how to prepare and cook meals for sale. (We created rEstaurants and sold tickets to between 30-50 of the local community) I would love to have a crack working as a station cook. I am friendly, organised and hard working. the only thing stopping me is worrying that I will be too old for another employer.. I have stayed at my job because of this. I know I can cook well and can easily throw together a meal for 20 people. Am I to old?
Just do it Debra! You are not too old. If you have the right attitude, are happy, welcoming, get along with all sorts of people then the rest will fall into place. Attitude is everything and creating a happy kitchen where people feel welcome. There are a lot of Facebook groups that advertise station jobs: Ringers From the Top End, Rural and Remote Cooks Brains Trust. Goodluck.
Thanks so much for your blog! Have just commenced as a cook for a very small station and crew in the NT. I’m no cook though, so your recipes and insights are going to be super helpful and I’ll be working through them daily and trying to customise for slightly more limited options here. Very simple and tasty stuff, just what they’re asking for. Cheers!